Following the Suez Crisis Palestinians remained a marginalized population

following the Suez Crisis Palestinians remained a marginalized population

• following the Suez Crisis Palestinians remained a marginalized population

• conditions in Gaza particularly bad; Palestinians in West Bank resisted efforts by Jordan to integrate

• Palestinians had viewed Pan-Arabism as a way to resolve their struggle with Israel

• under Yasser Arafat’s leadership Fatah came to dominate the Palestinian cause

Fatah principles

• Fatah principles

• Palestinians alone responsible for their fate

• priority of Palestinian liberation over Arab unity

• armed struggle to achieve goal

• Fatah part of global anti-imperialist cause

Assifa

• Assifa

• rivalry between Fatah and PLO - Artafat boycott of PLO meeting in East Jerusalem

• some Fatah members attracted to PLO

• Fatah battle group Assifa (the Storm) attacked the National Water Carrier Canal in Israel

• plan failed, but resulting publicity increased support for Fatah and Arafat

• further attacks by Assifa - eleven Israelis killed; provocative attacks prepare way for Six-Day War

Path to War

• Path to War

• Israeli PM Eskol invited “hawks” Menachem Begin and Moshe Dayan to join his cabinet in 1967

• hawks favored war in order to expand Israeli territory and make it more defensible

• Palestinians also favored war to regain their lands

• Lebanon and Jordan rejected war; while Nasser publicly advocated war, he privately considered the consequences of defeat

Cross-border conflicts

• Cross-border conflicts

• conflicts on the Syrian/Israeli border - water rights; aerial combat

• Palestinians carried out raids on Israel from southern Lebanon and Jordan

• in reprisal for the killing of Israeli soldiers in Jerusalem the IDF launched amajor attack on the village of Samu in the West Bank

• homes, mosque demolished and 50 Jordanian forces, killed or injured

• Hussein almost overthrown

reflecting Cold War rivalries Israel and its enemies received arms from both the Soviet Union and the West

• reflecting Cold War rivalries Israel and its enemies received arms from both the Soviet Union and the West

• U.S., (Johnson) West Germany, France provided weapons

• Soviet Union supplied Syria

• with Soviet backing Egypt and Syria entered defense pact in 1966

• based on false information supplied by the Soviets Nasser prepared for war - UN observers were asked to withdraw from Sinai

Six-Day War 1967

• Six-Day War 1967

• U Thant, UN Secretary General, agreed to withdraw observers

• Nasser closed Strait of Tiran

• considered an act of war by Israel

• waiting period - Hussein agreement with Nasser; Arab nations promised solidarity with Egypt

• Israel planned attack

advantage Israel - highly trained, highly motivated forces; superior weaponry; surprise attack

• advantage Israel - highly trained, highly motivated forces; superior weaponry; surprise attack

• Arab countries lacked coordination and motivation - Jordan a reluctant participant

• quick victory essential for Israel

• June 5, 1967 Israeli’s targeted Egyptian airbases and communication network

• 309 of 340 Egyptian aircraft were destroyed

• IDF advanced across Sinai to Suez Canal

within days Israel now occupied Sinai, Gaza, West Bank - including East Jerusalem

• within days Israel now occupied Sinai, Gaza, West Bank - including East Jerusalem

• tensions mounted between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R.

• with the West Bank secured, Israel accepted a ceasefire - Jordan and Egypt had already accepted the ceasefire proposal

despite the ceasefire Israel attacked the Golan Heights in Syria

• despite the ceasefire Israel attacked the Golan Heights in Syria

• U.S. (Johnson) condemnation of the action

• off the coast of Gaza an intelligence-gathering ship, the USS Liberty was attacked by Israeli planes

• 205 of crew were killed or wounded

• planned by Dayan? Israelis claimed it was all a terrible mistake

• Israelis now struck and captured the Golan Heights - 10 June

After the war

• After the war

• major loss of forces and equipment on Arab side; Israelis lost only 779 soldiers

• Israel had captured Sinai, West Bank, Gaza and the Golan Heights

• captured territories under military occupation

• Jerusalem was made Israel’s capital

Six-Day War greatly added to the Palestinian refugee problem

• Six-Day War greatly added to the Palestinian refugee problem

• some 323,000 new refugees from the occupied territories

• war, however, helped to strengthen sense of Palestinian unity

• Arafat’s Fatah-dominated PLO policy of aggressive nationalism now held sway - Pan-Arabism had failed

• greater international focus on the plight of the Palestinian people

Resolution 242

• Resolution 242

• following war, hawks and doves on both sides

• doves willing to exchange land for peace - Israeli PM Eshkol, King Hussein, Nasser

• hawks, no compromise attitude - Israel’s Menachem Begin and Syria

• Arab summit, September 1967 adopted ‘three-noes’

Resolution 242

• Resolution 242

• British-worded compromise

• resolution stated illegality of conquest

• Israel must return ‘territories occupied’ - abiguity, all or some?

• land for peace basis for resolution of conflict

• by 1970 Israel had accepted Resolution

Syria strongly against Resolution 242 proposals

• Syria strongly against Resolution 242 proposals

• Arafat and the Palestinians also rejected the Resolution

• all stolen Palestinian land should be returned

• Israel’s neighbors would ultimately accept the principle of ‘land for peace’

• some in the Palestinian movement would also accept this principle